Science Cafe: The Science of Microbes

Event Date:

Monday, February 27, 2012 - 6:30pm to 8:00pm

Microbes inhabit just about every part of the human body, vastly outnumbering human cells. Advances in genomic sequencing have revolutionized our ability to identify and understand the microbes that inhabit different parts of the human body, and how they may influence health and disease.

Join microbiologists Julie Segre and Liliana Losada for an interactive exploration of human-microbe interactions. As part of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the National Academy of Sciences, this event is focusing on state of the art science as well as historical research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 1977 on 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing that has helped researchers to identify and classify microbes. The article is part of the PNAS series of Classic articles.

Speaker bios:

Julie Segre, Ph.D., is a senior investigator at the National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH. Her laboratory deploys high throughput DNA sequencing and develops computer algorithms to track possible transmission of multi-drug resistant bacteria within hospitals. In 2011, the NIH Clinical Center had a cluster of patients infected with carbepenem-resistant K. pneumoniae bacteria. Dr. Segre co-lead the team that applied whole-genome sequencing to patients' bacterial isolates in real-time to gain insight into possible routes of transmission and limit K. pneumoniae's spread.

Liliana Losada, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of infectious disease at the J. Craig Venter Institute, which is involved in studies of the human microbiome. Dr. Losada has expertise in the genomic identification and characterization of microorganisms, and her current research explores the role of respiratory microbes in establishment, exacerbation, and prevention of diseases such as bacterial pneumonia in infants and invasive aspergillosis.

Tickets are $10, or $7 for students, and can be purchased at the door if spaces remain. Food, wine, and beer are included at no charge with admission. This interactive discussion is co-sponsored by the Koshland Science Museum and PNAS.